Fungi colonizing wood sticks of Chinese fir incubated in subtropical urban soil growing with Ficus microcarpa trees

Fungi colonized on wood sticks of the Chinese fir Cunninghamia lanceolata after incubation in soil around the Ficus microcarpa trees were isolated. In total, 1189 wood sticks from 28 F. microcarpa trees were sampled and analyzed in this study. A combined approach of culture morphological observation and PCR amplification of ITS of purified fungal isolates in revealing restriction fragment length polymorphism patterns was applied to group the purified fungal isolates for further species identification. Fungal species were identified based on phylogenetic analysis of ITS and β-tubulin gene-amplified sequences. Overall, 25 species belonging to 17 genera from four classes were identified, and all of them were Ascomycota. Among them, Penicillium spp., Fusarium spp., and Phoma insulana were the most frequently isolated. In this study, Dichotomonyces cejpii, Fusicolla acetilerea, and Purpureocillium lilacinum are recorded in Hong Kong for the first time. Some species of the fungal cultures obtained in this study may have potential application as biocontrol agents to control tree disease.